Idaho child gender-affirming care ban in full effect, after lawsuit ends

Idaho can enforce a state law that bans children from receiving gender-affirming care.

For a few months in early 2024, a federal court injunction blocked Idaho from enforcing the state law for all children in Idaho. But in April 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court narrowed the judicial block to only apply to the minors who sued over the law.

The lawsuit’s dismissal on June 18 ended judicial blocks, allowing Idaho to enforce the law, the Idaho Attorney General’s Office says.

“No one has the right to harm children,” Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador said in a statement. “For two years, my office defended Idaho’s common-sense law that protects kids from experimental procedures with lifelong, irreversible consequences.”

The lawsuit was dismissed because the suing transgender minors moved out of state, ACLU of Idaho announced.

The same day as Idaho’s lawsuit was dismissed, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a similar state law in Tennessee, ruling that children who seek the treatment don’t qualify as a protected class, the Tennessee Lookout reported.

“Idaho has done what it set out to do – drive out transgender people who don’t want to tolerate the unnecessary hostility toward them,” ACLU of Idaho Advocacy Fellow Jenna Damron said in a statement. “I wish I could say this ruling is surprising, but I’m not surprised. Still, I want every trans kid out there to know: You are loved. You are worthy. And we will keep fighting for you, no matter what this court says.”

Idaho’s law, passed in 2023, bans puberty blockers, hormones and surgical interventions for Idaho youth seeking gender-affirming care. But the law doesn’t ban all gender-affirming care for children, such as mental health services, hair removal, speech therapy and period suppression. Idaho doctors previously told the Idaho Capital Sun.

If doctors violate Idaho’s law, they could face a felony criminal charge. Surgeries were already not happening on minors in Idaho, the Sun previously reported.

The Alliance Defending Freedom, an influential conservative Christian law firm, helped represent Idaho in the lawsuit. Labrador and the law firm in 2023 signed an agreement to allow the firm to represent Idaho, for free, in litigation.

ACLU of Idaho says it is still working on other lawsuits to protect trans rights, including challenges to Idaho’s law banning trans students from participating in sports teams of their same gender and against Idaho’s ban on using public funds for gender-affirming care, including in prisons.